POLICE ALARMED BY NUMBER OF GROW-RIPS

There have been 13 "grow-rips" or attempted grow-rips reported to the Surrey
RCMP in the past month and the Mounties say that's likely only one-sixth of
the actual number of people trying to steal marijuana plants and cash from
home-grow operations.

Const. Tim Shields said for every one grow-rip reported to police, there are
actually five more that go unreported likely due to the criminal nature of
the crime.

They go unreported because "when the suspects hit the right address they are
hitting a criminal operation and they [the victims] don't want to report it
themselves because they know the police will be coming," Shields said.

"There have been 10 [reported to police] just in January alone."

On Friday morning, there were three attempted grow-rips in a 73-minute span
in Surrey, including one that landed a senior citizen in hospital with
gunshot wounds.

At 4:08 a.m. Friday, three men wearing hoods kicked open the door of a house
in the 11300-block Loughren Drive looking for a grow-op that was not in the
home.

When the police arrived, they found the house empty and evidence of a
pepper-spray fight.

Twenty-two minutes later, three men broke into a home near the Port Mann
Bridge occupied by an elderly couple and a child.

A fight ensued as the trio tried a grow-rip and a 68-year-old man was shot.

The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The suspects fled and drug squad members executed a search warrant at the
home and dismantled the grow-op.

At 5:21 a.m., three men kicked down the front door of a home in the

15100-block 76th Avenue looking for a grow-op that didn't exist and pepper
sprayed a 65-year-old man, who produced his own handgun, prompting the trio
to flee.

On Thursday, three men -- one armed with a handgun -- forced their way into
a home in the 6600-block 150th Street and pepper sprayed a 48-year-old man.

When no grow-op was found, the trio fled.

Shields said police are becoming increasingly alarmed at the growing
frequency of attempted grow-rips -- many of which target innocent families.

Police say grow-rippers either steal cash or pot with large quantities being
shipped to the U.S., where it's exchanged for cocaine or guns that are
smuggled back into Canada.

And the problem also exists in Richmond where there have been four reported
grow rips in the last month.

Police estimate half of the 14 grow-rips in Surrey and Richmond have
targeted homes where no grow-op was found.

In Surrey, there were 658 grow-ops reported to police in 2002, with officers
executing search warrants at 156 of the homes.